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Monday, March 21, 2011

Top Ten Bookish Pet Peeves

Oh, do I have some bookish pet peeves to share. I am such a nerd.

-Censorship. This is so much more than a pet peeve. When The Golden Compass movie came out, the community I love in sent e-mails and wrote editorials protesting it. I read them at that point because no one is going to tell me what I shouldn't read. (Side: I do think parents can censor books for their children, but not to the extent of asking a library to ban a book.)

-I don't like it when people act like YA fiction is just "fluff." YA fiction is just like any other genre. It has its fluff, and it has true literature too. No one could tell me novels by John Grisham or James Patterson are better quality than novels by Markus Zusak.

-Along the same note, it's not necessarily bad if all your kid will read is graphic novels. He is reading! Many kids nowadays will be brought into the world of reading by graphic novels. That's okay, in my opinion.

-I get so annoyed with series that last too long. The story usually gets repetitive, and I start to feel like the author is only continuing it because it's a proven formula.

-As mentioned in my review of A Discovery of Witches, I don't like not knowing ahead of time that the book will have a sequel. I guess I have to prepare myself.

-Another bookish pet peeve is that my husband limits me to one bookshelf for my books and one for children's books. It's only because of limited space, though. He says I can have more once we buy a house. I can't wait.

-This was an example given on the meme list, but it hold true for me as well. I hate stickers on my books!

-I hate it when people act as if reading is simply a leisure activity. It is relaxing for me, don't get me wrong. I often feel, however, like mommy brain is taking over and I'm losing IQ points daily, but reading helps me offset that. :)

Haha, big surprise, I read The Golden Compass under the same circumstances. I hadn't planned on reading it, but then I got invited to join a Facebook group for people boycotting the movie because the author was atheist (even though of course none of them had read the books themselves). GOOD GRIEF. I went and read some articles about it, and was so irritated that I basically immediately bought all three books (and loved them, by the way. Also the movie). I hate censorship.

I used to think that way about YA, too, and I still feel like I need to explain to people how non-fluff it can be.

And I hate when people tell me they wish they could read, but they just don't have time. Sorry friends, but yes you do--you just choose to use it on other things (like TV). That's fine if that's what you want to do, but it still doesn't mean you don't have the time. People always seem to think I have the most leisurely life because of how much I read, and sure, I don't have kids and I'm not as busy as plenty of people, but I do work full-time and volunteer and have a husband. I just love reading and choose to do it.